Maas Brothers

NEW YORK -- The Allied Stores Corp. is considering merging its two Florida store divisions -- Maas Brothers in Tampa and Jordan Marsh in Miami -- to cut overhead and create a unified retail organization, trade sources said Wednesday. Allied recently agreed to a merger with the Campeau Corp., a Toronto-based developer. The proposed consolidation in Florida predates the Campeau-Allied merger agreement, trade sources said, and it would probably take place by Feb. 1, the end of Allied`s 1986 fiscal year.

I think the Hollywood Super Mall, at the old Hollywood Fashion Center on U.S. 441 and Hollywood Boulevard, would be a great place to shop, but no stores were announced, nor an opening date set. In 1974, the Hollywood Fashion Center opened up, anchored by Burdines, Jordan Marsh (later Maas Brothers/Jordan Marsh), JC Penney, and Richard's. In 1979, Richard's went out of business, and Zayre's (later Ames) replaced Richard's in 1982. Ames went out of business in 1989, and Maas Brothers/Jordan Marsh closed up two years later.

It`s official: Maas Brothers and Jordan Marsh are one. The two Campeau Corp. chains will take their final step toward consolidation on Aug. 20, uniting under the name Maas Brothers/Jordan Marsh. All advertising, shopping bags and other graphics will carry the new name. Only the 37 store facades will remain the same, because it is too expensive and cumbersome to change them, said to Tom Ford, senior vice president of marketing. The two chains had merged virtually all their merchandising, financial and back-room operations in the two years since Campeau bought Allied Department Stores in 1987.

Mervyn`s, the California-based department store, will open three stores in South Florida on June 7. One will open at the Palm Beach Mall in West Palm Beach, in a former Maas Brothers/Jordan Marsh store. Another will open at the Pompano Square mall in Pompano Beach. The third will be at the Mall at 163rd Street in northern Dade County. Mervyn`s entered the South Florida market last year. It has opened stores in such various sites as a former Ames discount store, some that it bought from Lord & Taylor and others that were formerly occupied by the defunct Maas Brothers/Jordan Marsh chain.

After less than three months on the job, the top executive at Maas Brothers, Frank W. Harvey, resigned this week, with industry observers attributing the surprise move to the Tampa-based department store chain`s new ownership. Company officials said Harvey - whose career with Maas Brothers and its parent, Allied Stores Corp., spans 30 years - has been replaced by another company veteran, Donald F. Dunn. Harvey was promoted from president to chairman and chief executive officer at Maas Brothers in late February.

Jordan Marsh is moving its corporate offices from Miami to Tampa as part of a consolidation plan prompted by the recent sale of its owner to a Toronto developer. The department store chain`s 17 stores will retain the Jordan Marsh name, but Jordan Marsh management will be consolidated into the Tampa-based Maas Brothers chain. The fate of the 350 workers at Jordan Marsh`s Miami headquarters is unknown. Both Maas Brothers and Jordan Marsh are owned by Allied Stores Corp., which was acquired last month for $3.4 billion by Campeau Corp.

It`s curtains for curtains at Maas Brothers/Jordan Marsh. The Florida-based department store chain is dropping sale of most draperies and curtains, because, curtains are going out of style, it says. "The business has dwindled over the years," said Tom Ford, speaking from the retailer`s Tampa headquarters. "It`s not the way people dress their windows anymore." More people today buy vertical blinds and shutters, Ford said. However, a South Florida curtain sales firm disagrees. Curtains and draperies were fading for a while, but they are making a comeback, said Eddie Sultan, vice president of Sultan & Sons drapery and curtain company, based in Pompano Beach.

MIAMI -- William Frederick, president of Jordan Marsh Florida since 1982, said Wednesday he will leave the firm effective Feb. 28. Frederick said his departure resulted from the recent merger of Jordan Marsh with the Tampa-based Maas Brothers department store chain. Frederick said, "The only thing I plan to do right now is take a two-month vacation." Frederick`s departure follows the Tuesday announcement by Maas Brothers that Saul Zeidman will become president of the new chain on March 2. Zeidman comes to the chain from Read`s Department Stores in Connecticut, where he was president and chief executive officer.

NEW YORK -- One of Campeau Corp.`s top suppliers told retailers on Tuesday that he heard Campeau was planning to shut 24 Burdines or Maas Brothers/Jordan Marsh stores in Florida. Representatives for the two store chains and for Campeau, however, said that no such decision had been made. John J. Pomerantz, chairman of Leslie Fay Co., told retailers that he had heard Campeau would soon announce a plan to shut stores in malls that have both Burdines and Maas Brothers/Jordan Marsh. That could have a significant impact in Broward and Palm Beach counties, where seven malls have both Burdines and Maas Brothers/Jordan Marsh stores.

Maas Brothers/Jordan Marsh could disappear as a retailer in South Florida under a plan approved by a bankruptcy court judge in Cincinnati late Thursday afternoon. Federated Stores Corp. said it would put up for sale two Burdines stores and 18 Maas Brothers/Jordan Marsh stores as part of a plan to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. The plan includes all the Maas Brothers/Jordan Marsh stores in South Florida, opening the door for another retailer. The stores will remain open while Federated seeks a buyer.

Several New York City retirees stood outside Macy`s in Plantation on Monday, reminiscing about the famous retailer on the worst day of its 134-year history. "You walk into Macy`s, it`s like walking into your house," retired grocer Walter Popkin said. His wife, Edith, worked near its Herald Square flagship store and furnished their home with its merchandise. "It`s like closing the New York Library," he said. The memories came as Macy`s filed for Chapter 11 protection from its creditors.

Dillard Department Stores expects to open three or four stores in South Florida by fall 1993, the founder and chairman of the company said on Monday. During 1992, the chain plans to open stores in Stuart, Sarasota and Port Charlotte, Dillard`s chairman William T. Dillard said. During 1993, it will move into South Florida, but Dillard would not say where. He was speaking to a meeting of the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association in Boca Raton. Although Dillard said he will not give specifics until leases are signed, mall owner Edward J. DeBartolo Corp.

Sears, Roebuck & Co. has agreed to pay $1.8 million to buy the Maas Brothers/Jordan Marsh store at Boynton Beach Mall. The proposed purchase has to be approved by a bankruptcy court judge in Cincinnati, but Sears hopes to renovate the store for an opening next summer. A hearing is set for Nov. 21. The move is the latest in the dismantling of the former Jordan Marsh chain. Its parent, Federated Stores, has been selling or closing weak stores as part of the company`s attempt to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Even as retail sales remain sluggish, department store credit card rates are going up, to as high as 21.6 percent a year. Several department store chains have taken advantage of the Legislature`s decision this summer to lift an 18 percent cap on interest rates in the state. Some customers say the new rates make them mad. "Business is bad. This is going to get people into the store?" complained Audra Burgujian of Boca Raton, a Maas Brothers/Jordan Marsh customer. "It will be a cold day in hell before I charge anything else there."

Despite an 11th-hour plea by owners of several South Florida shopping centers to keep out what they called a discounter, Mervyn`s department stores late on Friday won court approval to take over seven Maas Brothers/Jordan Marsh store locations. Bankruptcy Judge J. Vincent Jr. delayed ruling on the ownership of an eighth store location, at Dadeland Mall in Miami, until next Thursday when the hearing reconvenes in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Cincinnati. The mall owners favored a competing bid from Dillard`s, an Arkansas-based department store chain that bid $80 million like Mervyn`s but wanted 12 locations.

There are serious potential buyers for Maas Brothers/Jordan Marsh stores in The Galleria mall in Fort Lauderdale and the Boynton Beach Mall, a spokesman for the retailer`s sister chain said. Burdines spokesman Carey Watson would not name the potential buyers. The management of Burdines and Maas Brothers/Jordan Marsh is being consolidated in Miami by their parent firm, the Federated and Allied department store chains. The news comes as Jordan Marsh begins a final closeout sale today for stores including Broward Mall, Pompano Square, Town Center and Palm Beach Mall.

The 20 Maas Brothers/Jordan Marsh and Burdines stores up for sale may generate some interest even in a retail recession, although maybe not at premium prices, some experts say. Last week, Federated Stores Corp. announced that it was putting up for sale 18 Maas Brothers/Jordan Marsh stores and two Burdines stores. All the Maas Brothers/Jordan Marsh stores in South Florida are for sale. The strongest candidates to buy some of the stores include some of the healthier retailers in the country, Dayton Hudson, May Department Stores and Dillard Department Stores.

Mervyn`s, the California-based department store, will open three stores in South Florida on June 7. One will open at the Palm Beach Mall in West Palm Beach, in a former Maas Brothers/Jordan Marsh store. Another will open at the Pompano Square mall in Pompano Beach. The third will be at the Mall at 163rd Street in northern Dade County. Mervyn`s entered the South Florida market last year. It has opened stores in such various sites as a former Ames discount store, some that it bought from Lord & Taylor and others that were formerly occupied by the defunct Maas Brothers/Jordan Marsh chain.

Federated Department Stores and Allied Stores Corp. filed a plan on Monday in which they hope to emerge from Chapter 11 protection by next year. The companies` plan for reorganization, filed late Monday afternoon in bankruptcy court in Cincinnati, calls for Federated and Allied to merge into a publicly held company early next year. That would let the public buy shares in a firm that includes such retailers as Bloomingdale`s, Burdines and Maas Brothers/Jordan Marsh. Most holders of junk bonds in the two chains would get stock in the new company.